Hello, Sunshine
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and fifty-five:  sunshine girls #27  Four panicked messages send Rachel to Quinn's rescue after a bit of a wardrobe malfunction.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 26th cycle. Now cycle 27!_

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><p><strong>"Hello, Sunshine"<br>Rachel & Quinn  
>Sunshine Girls #27 (sequel to 'Keep On Shining') <strong>

Rachel was in the middle of a pop quiz when she felt like something brushed against her leg and startled… only to realize it was her phone vibrating in her bag pocket, against her leg. She ignored it, to get back to her quiz, but she was aware of it now, and in the next five minutes she heard it three more times. She was sure, because when she would hear it she would put her leg back against the bag and feel the vibration. Whoever was calling, they must really have wanted to talk to her. When she realized this, she looked down at her quiz. Two more questions and she would be done, so she hurried it up, handed the sheet in and asked to be excused. She had already pocketed her phone, and when she got in the hall she checked her messages.

It was Quinn. The messages showed a growing urgency without being all that detailed. All she got out of it was that Quinn was in the bathroom, and she needed Rachel to be there as soon as possible. So Rachel ran there, coming through the door to find the bathroom… empty?

"Quinn?" she called. After a moment, she saw one leg, then another come down from inside the rightmost stall, before the door was opened a crack and Rachel saw blonde hair. She pictured her sitting there with her legs up, hiding, with her phone constantly in hand as she tried to reach Rachel.

"I'm so sorry," Quinn still hadn't moved out completely into view.

"No, it's fine, I… I would have been here before, but I had a… pop quiz," her voice was stalled when Quinn finally came out, and the word 'pop' seemed all too appropriate. She knew Quinn's belly had started to become more pronounced in recent times, but on that day, it looked larger than life… No one was more surprised than her clothes, though, apparently. As she stepped up, Rachel could see a rough rip in her dress… It was too small, couldn't contain her anymore.

"It was tight, I knew it, but I didn't have a choice…" she explained, moving to the mirror to look at the damage… there was no way she could go out there like this. Rachel watched her looking at herself, saw the mix of the panic over the fact that her torn dress left her exposed like this, and of the awe at how her body was changing, had changed… would change… and she knew she needed her. Quinn needed her, so what was a Sunshine Girl to do for another? For one thing, it felt right that they should try and lighten the mood a bit.

"Wow, that's a… that's a rip…" Rachel shook her head in awe, taking a step forward to inspect the fabric. Quinn raised her arm, so they both could look. "Just… wow…" she looked back to Quinn, almost saying 'well done'… it worked. The snort just came out of nowhere, and it was just the spark that lit the flame, getting them both laughing. Once it cleared, Rachel looked back at her. "So how do you want to…"

"I just need to get back to my car," Quinn explained.

"Right, well… here," she unbuttoned her vest and took it off, helping Quinn into it. "I almost didn't wear it, now I'm kind of glad I did," she nodded, moving behind her to see how the vest was doing in covering that hole. "It's…" she tried a couple of times and Quinn tried to see what was happening when she felt whatever she was doing. Rachel looked back at her. "It'll cover it, but if I let go it… it won't hold."

"Okay, it's fine… We can do this," Quinn just nodded. "Let's just…" she turned just to the side, Rachel still keeping the hole covered at her side, while Quinn put her arm over her shoulders, like they were somehow running a three-legged race. "And if we hurry we won't run into any problems from here to the car," she concluded, then after a pause, "Did I just jinx it?"

"I don't know, but let's just go for it," Rachel suggested.

"Good idea," Quinn told her, and they went for the door, pausing when they saw they were too wide for it. "Sideways," Quinn directed, and they turned, making it out the door. "If anyone asks… I twisted my ankle, and…"

"They might make a big deal…" Rachel told her, indicating her belly.

"Well look where our arms are at, we can't switch," Quinn pointed out, as they still went on. "So I twisted my ankle, it's no big deal, I just need to go and you're helping me out, yes?" she finalized the scenario and Rachel silently agreed.

"Limp…" Rachel suddenly said, and Quinn was about to ask her what it was about, but… "Limp! Start limping now," Rachel pressed, and just as Quinn understood and started playing like her ankle hurt, the janitor passed them, pushing his mop and bucket along. The girls made a show of looking very invested into what they were doing, hoping he would pay no mind to them. Lucky for them, though perhaps not for the school as a whole, the janitor was not the most attentive of men. "Okay, we're clear," Rachel told Quinn, who started walking straight again. They were nearly at the door, and they hurried. They cut across to the parking lot and Quinn already had her keys out. Rachel let go and Quinn got in the driver's side. She had just shut the door, sitting back with a sigh of relief, when Rachel got in on the passenger side. Quinn looked back at her.

"Thanks," she smiled at her.

"No problem," Rachel smiled back. There was a pause, but then Quinn got the car started.

"They might wonder where you went," Quinn pointed out.

"I'll think of something," Rachel shrugged. "It's really no trouble."

Sometimes it still felt like they were their old selves again… the Sunshine Girls… and then other times it was like their brains remembered that they had been the opposite of friends for a while, and they got clumsy again, unsure of what they could or should say. Somehow they had to be aware that they were feeling this and, not only that, how the other was feeling it as well, because they were able to just turn to the other and, from the look they saw on their face, they could just tell… there was something they wanted to say, but they either didn't know how or they didn't know if they should…

"Rachel?" Quinn asked, and Rachel looked at her. She could remember them being in much the same set-up, with Quinn driving her somewhere, not long ago, and Rachel questioning her.

"I was just wondering… Maybe it's just seeing you today with…" she indicated her belly, which was even more pronounced in the torn dress now that they were seated. She swore she could hear the fabric tearing even further just by her sitting there. "Things are… progressing, and before long it'll be time for the… the birth." It had occurred to Quinn too. "Have you decided what you're going to do? Or is that…"

"I…" she started, so Rachel stopped and listened. "I honestly don't know," she admitted. "Some days I think she'll be better off with another family, a new start, no complications…" she grew quiet for an instant. "But then other times I ask myself if I just thought that because I thought I wouldn't have a home, not a home with my family. Except now I know I will, and I may not have or want to have my father, but I have my mother, and my sister… and you," she looked at her with a small smile, which Rachel returned. "So then I think that and I ask myself… if now that means I could keep her. But if it's just being able, then is it even right? Would I be keeping her just to keep her, or because I want to, because I'd have something to offer her that's really better than her growing up in a whole other family." Rachel tried to think about it, and she could see why it would be so hard to decide.

They continued to drive, quietly at first. Eventually they would start discussing how to get around this whole dress issue. It was a good thing it was Friday afternoon. At least this way Quinn had a few days to go shopping and stock up on clothes that would accommodate her growing figure. Rachel could almost feel just what Rachel had picked up on earlier: things that needed to be said. They had arrived at Quinn's house, where they would attempt to fix her up enough that she could make it through the rest of the day back at school. It was as they got out of the car, each of them standing on opposite sides of it, that Quinn said it, drawing Rachel's attention back. It was almost a question, one Rachel answered with a nod and eyes which suddenly felt tearful though she tried to hold back.

"But if I do keep her… then she'll be lucky, because she'll get you, too."

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>**********always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******** **


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